Aari: “the day our Savior comes” (in Rom 13:11) (source: Loren Bliese)
in Mairasi its is translated as “life fruit” or “life fruit all mashed out.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “In secret stories, not knowable to women nor children, there was a magical fruit of life. If referred to vaguely, without specifying the specific ‘fruit,’ it can be an expression for eternity.” And for “all masked out” he explains: “Bark cloth required pounding. It got longer and wider as it got pounded. Similarly, life gets pounded or mashed to lengthen it into infinity. Tubers also get mashed into the standard way of serving the staple food, like the fufu of Uganda, or like poi of Hawaii. It spreads out into infinity.” (See also eternity / forever)
In Lisu a poetic construct is used for this term. Arrington (2020, p. 58f.) explains: “A four-word couplet uses Lisu poetic forms to bridge the abstract concrete divide, an essential divide to cross if Christian theology is to be understood by those with oral thought patterns. Each couplet uses three concrete nouns or verbs to express an abstract term. An example of this is the word for salvation, a quite abstract term essential to understanding Christian theology. To coin this new word, the missionary translators used a four-word couplet: ℲO., CYU. W: CYU (person … save … person … save). In this particular case, the word for person was not the ordinary word (ʁ) but rather the combination of ℲO., and W: used in oral poetry. The word for ‘save’ also had to be coined; in this case, it was borrowed from Chinese [from jiù / 救]. These aspects of Lisu poetry, originally based on animism, likely would have been lost as Lisu society encountered communism and modernization. Yet they are now codified in the Lisu Bible as well as the hymnbook.”
In the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) it is translated with chipulumutso which is used to refer to an act of helping someone who is in problems but cannot help him/herself come out of the problems because of weakness. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 6:2:
Uma: “In the Holy Book long ago God said like this: ‘At the time I set I heard your (sing.) cry, I helped you (sing.), I lifted you (sing.) from the punishment of your (sing.) sins.’ Relatives, I say to you, this is the time that God set. I say to you, on this day God wants to lift you from the punishment of your sins.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Listen to what God says, ‘When the day came that I had prearranged/set I heard you (sing.). When the day came for my saving you (sing.), I helped you (sing.).’ Therefore I say to you: Listen! This day is the day that God has set to show his love. This day is the day when he saves you from the judgment of your sin.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For there is a written word of God which says, ‘At the time when I wanted, I listened to your prayers; and at the proper time for my setting mankind free, I helped you.’ Now what I say to you is, this is already the time when God wants to help you. This is already the time for Him to free you from punishment.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because there is that which God caused-to-be-written which says, ‘I heard your (sing.) prayer at the time when I decided to show-mercy to you (sing.), and I helped you (sing.) on the arrival of the right day that I would save you (sing.).’ Remember this then. Now is the right time for you to receive God’s grace/mercy. Today is the right day for you to be saved.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For consider what God said in what was written in the past which says, ‘At the time which I determined as correct I responded to your prayers. I answered you on the day which I established as the day of salvation.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because concerning God, in the word written in the Holy Book he says: ‘There will come the day which I have determined to give you grace. When you call on me I will listen to what you say to me. It is the day when your soul can be saved and I will help you’ says God. And now is the day for you to call on God. It is the day for you to save your souls.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
The pronoun he refers to God (verse 1). Good News Translation substitutes the noun “God” for the pronoun (so also Bible en français courant and Barclay).
This quotation comes from the Septuagint Greek translation of Isa 49.8, not from the original Hebrew. In the Old Testament context the verse refers to God’s help to the people of Israel. Paul uses this text to emphasize the urgent nature of his appeal to the Corinthians.
He says: Paul applies these words to the present time as if God were speaking these words directly to the Corinthians. Revised English Bible‘s “He has said” indicates that Paul is quoting from words that God had already spoken. The present tense of this verb in Greek indicates the permanent validity of Scripture. Helen Barrett Montgomery’s The New Testament in Modern English has “For he said,” which fails to show the continuing validity of what God said. Translators may wish to make explicit where God has said these words: “in the Scriptures” (so Bible en français courant and Contemporary English Version).
The acceptable time: though some interpreters understand this to mean “acceptable by human beings,” most understand this to be the time acceptable by God to show his favor to his people (so Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
The Greek contains a play on words that Revised Standard Version keeps but Good News Translation does not. In 6.1 Paul says “to accept the grace of God”; and in 6.2 he speaks of the acceptable time. Good News Translation brings in from verse 1 the idea that the acceptable time is the time for God’s grace to be shown. While Paul uses two related words, both of which are translated acceptable, experts in the Greek language make no distinction in meaning, and translators should not feel that they have to look for two different words in their own language.
I have listened to you: God heard the people’s prayers. The sense is not merely that God listened impassively to their prayers, but that he answered them favorably. Both New Jerusalem Bible and Revised English Bible use the verb “answered” here.
The second person pronouns in this quotation are singular in Greek, and in the Old Testament they are taken as referring to the Servant of the Lord. This passage may have come to Paul’s mind because of a similarity with his own situation. But in the appeal that follows, the application is broadened to include the Corinthians. Nevertheless the receptor language rendering should reflect the singular pronouns of the original quotation.
The day of salvation: God is the implicit agent of the noun salvation. The meaning is that God helped his people “when the day arrived for me to save you” (Good News Translation).
The structure of the Old Testament quotation will have to be changed in some languages to make it more natural. It may read “I heard you at the right time; yes, I helped you on the day of salvation.” The translation should not give the impression of two separate and distinct events. Rather, this is an example of parallelism where the two elements refer to a single event.
The last sentence in this verse is Paul’s comment on the passage from Isaiah. Translators should take care to insure that this is not taken as a part of the Old Testament quotation. This may be very difficult in those languages that do not use quotation marks. Translators in some languages will naturally say something like “That is what he said” at the end of a quotation. In those languages it will be clear for those who hear this verse read that the last part of the verse is not a part of the quotation.
Behold: as in 5.17 (as well as 6.9), this particle serves to call special attention to what follows. Good News Translation attempts to render this with “Listen!” but does not repeat it in the second instance. Other versions use only the exclamation mark (New American Bible).
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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